Well, I finished it. 6 days. Not bad, all things considered. It had a bit of an addicting effect on me. I truly couldn't do much else until I finished it. Click on "More" to read my thoughts.
*WARNING: CLICKING MORE WILL GIVE AWAY MAJOR PLOT POINTS!!!!!! DON'T READ WHAT I HAVE TO SAY IF YOU PLAN ON READING THE BOOK BUT HAVEN'T YET*
Well, I liked it, especially compared with The Goblet of Fire The thing that drove me nuts about TGoF was all of the Quidditch at the beginning. I am not really into Quidditch. I always want Griffyndor to win, but beyond that, I don't care. So, the fact that Harry was banned for a while from the game was conducive to my enjoyment.
So, Sirius is dead. Frankly, that's okay by me. He was never my favorite, and I do think he was a bad influence on Harry. But, if someone had to die, it's fine with me that it was Sirius. There was a moment of time when I thought it was going to be Mrs. Weasley, and I didn't like that notion at all. I think my favorite characters really are Hermione (who finally had a book where she wasn't shuffled off someplace to be inconsequential for many chapters), Mrs. Weasley, and McGonnagall. Love those spunky women, especially Hermione.
I was glad to see the Harry/Cho Chang thing pretty much stall. I'm not a huge fan of Cho, and this book didn't endear her to me at all.
Compared to TGoF, I didn't think this one was quite as scary. I remember being truly afraid during TGoF. The last few chapters of this one were a little anticlimactic to me, but I think it's maybe because I was expecting so much.
All things considered, a great 800+ pages, and a worthy addition to the series. I think my having read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series has jaded me a little. Those are so scary, and so dark, that this HP book, reported to be so incredibly dark, came off as slightly tame.
Posted by waking slow at June 29, 2003 09:13 PM